Look At You - A Oneshot in three acts
by HashtagMC
Summary: Nico can't believe that Will will ever see him as more than a friend. Turns out, he does. Rated T for swearing.
1. Act I - Exposition

**Author's note (AN):** I'm not sure what the exact definition of a oneshot is, fact is, I spent my evening writing this at a stretch. Took about two to three hours or so. I'm not sure whether this is adorably fluffy, or despisably cliché and cheesy. You decide. Let me know what you think which one applies to this story!

 **Disclaimer: I own neither PJO nor HoO, only the OCs. PJO and HoO belong to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

 **Month II, Day I**

By now, the job of a travel agent, or maybe a taxi driver, sounded _really_ tempting.

Two months ago, I had already wanted to leave Camp Half-Blood. Back then, it was because I had no friends. Right now, my friends were the problem. Or rather, one of them. Said friend was at least eight feet tall, had blonde hair, and blue eyes. His father was Apollo, and his name was Will Solace.

Two months ago, Will Solace had been one of the reasons why I stayed at Camp. In the meantime, I had learned about various sides of him. One moment, he was all stern and ordered people around, saying this stupid 'Doctor's Orders'-line of his. Then again, he laughed loud and often, and could be the either funniest or dorkiest (or both) person I knew. And then there were moments when his emotional side came out, when he sat at the campfire when everybody else had gone long ago, and played touching songs on his guitar, his voice the sweetest sound in the world.

All that wasn't a problem. What _was_ a problem: Will was also very attractive, handsome, pretty and any other synonym for good-looking. And he was bi, so that wasn't a problem either. I was totally sure that he considered me his _friend_ , and two months ago I had been glad about this. But I was also pretty sure that he considered me _nothing more than a friend_ , and that was the reason why I always was so miserable during the past few weeks. Serious, of the plenty of cute boys and girls at camp, how much were the chances that he'd pick me? Maybe if we were the only human beings on Earth's surface. _Maybe_.

So that was why I once again contemplated the pros and cons of leaving the camp. It wouldn't be the first time. Between the two wars, I had rarely been at any of the camps, not to mention during the war. I had spent more time in hell (well, in the Underworld and in the Labyrinth) than at Camp Half-Blood.

And, given that my fighting skills had significantly decreased recently (you can't behead a dummy when you're thinking of your best friends adorable freckles), _any_ job in the mortal world was tempting. Being just an average young man, make an apprenticeship, learn a job, get some distance between you and the guy whom you love… preferably a few hundred miles, at the very least.

"Nico!" yelled said guy from behind. Wow, Solace, perfect timing. Showing up when I am pining for you. And why for everything in hell do you have to look so damn good today? As much as I despised Artemis' Hunters, I wished that there was a similar organization for men. But gods, who are eternal maidens at the same time, are very rare these days. Not to say: Nonexistent. It's a fact, the Olympians aren't the best at staying in their own beds. I inwardly sighed. Right now, a bunch of immortal boys who'd keep me away from dating would come in handy. Well, actually, a bunch of _boys_ would be really bad. Another sigh. Would the Hunters accept me if I explained that I was gay and needed to be kept away from men to prevent my heart from breaking? Probably not.

I raised the bow that I had been holding during the last five minutes and continued my target practice. Why had I decided to learn using a bow in the first place? _To impress Will_ said a voice in the back of my head, but I decided to ignore it. I had decided to learn using a bow so that I would be better in combat, and that was the only reason. And that's that. _Not_ because I wanted to impress a certain son of the god of archery, who couldn't use a bow for the life of his, by the way.

Will arrived at the archery range, out of breath as if he'd ran all the way from his cabin. He probably had. It took him a few moments to recover his breaths, moments in which I missed the target another five times.

"Since when do you practice archery?" Will asked, still panting. And, shame on me, all that left my mouth was a stuttered 'um' instead of my well-prepared argumentation of how useful it could be to be able to handle both a bow or a sword. When I was close to Will, there was no sign of the cool and confident Ghost King. More like a teenager who is in love for the first time. Scratch that, for the _second_ time. Not much better. I forgot what I was about to say when he was nearby. And don't even get me started of how annoying and attractive at the same time it was when he ran his fingers through his hair like he just did… you get what I mean. I tried to focus on the bow, but after I hit another camper's target instead of mine, I gave up.

I walked for the Hades cabin, and, of course, stupid, adorable Will Solace followed me. He wasn't wrong when he stated that I was in a bad mood and needed to be cheered up, but he didn't know that _he_ was the reason for my bad mood. Of course, him leaving wouldn't cheer me up either, but at least I'd be able to get my heartbeat below 200 bpm. If he'd come _any_ closer, I'd most likely suffer a heart attack. And I didn't want to test out Apollo's son's healing  & reviving powers. Not least because he was _bound_ to notice how fast my heart was beating if he touched me (and that was most times necessary to treat serious injuries).

I didn't pay the slightest bit of attention when Will listed all the things that he thought would brighten my mood. I enjoyed and cursed his presence at the same time. I was startled out of my thoughts when Will ungently shoved me.

"Where you even listening?" he demanded to know. "Well, not exactly" I admitted, and he rolled his eyes. Did I already mention that he looks cute when he—yeah, I most likely mentioned it. For the record: Will looks cute when he rolls his eyes. (Scratch that last part, Will looks cute, no matter what he does. Unconditional cute-i-ness, I guess.)

"—and we could play a card game, or we could go swimming, or we could go to the climbing wall, or we could play Truth or Dare—" I interrupted him when a thought came to my mind. "Can you teach me how to play the guitar?" I asked. Will looked surprised, and I already regretted asking him. "Forget it" I mumbled, looking at my feet in shame, but Will laughed this laughter that made me so dizzy. "Of course I can. I was just surprised 'cause I didn't expect that question. It will take time, though. You don't learn an instrument on one day. But if you are willing to practice regularly, there's no reason why I couldn't teach you." I nodded. That settled the matter, Will dashed towards Cabin Seven to get his guitar.

"Okay, Nico, put your index finger _here_ and your middle finger _here_ , and you are fretting an E-minor chord." My face was a dark shade of red, and I was sure that my body temperature was ten times higher than normal. That was probably due to the situation and the compromising pose: Will sat behind me, his arms reaching past my body and guiding my hands and fingers around the fretboard of his guitar.


	2. Act II - Confrontation

**AN:** The song is _Something Stupid_ by Frank and Nancy Sinatra. Surprise, surprise.

 **Disclaimer: I own neither PJO nor HoO, only the OCs and the plot. PJO and HoO belong to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

 **Month IV, Day I**

"Are you sure you don't want to?" Will asked for the umpteenth time, and I nodded, trying to ignore the disappointed expression on his face. But what did he expect? I was playing guitar for two months now, and he had asked me _if I wanted to lead the sing-along at the campfire_! Of course _not_! If I had to play in front of two-hundred campers, I'd be totally at a loss. I _hated_ large amounts of people. I wouldn't even have come to campfire if Will hadn't asked me while giving me his best puppy-dog-look. Seriously, I was pretty sure that a pouting Will fell within the scope of the treatment that forbid ABC-weapons. Given that Will was alive and kicking, he was probably a biological weapon.

So, to put it short, he had convinced me to come to the campfire, but there was no way I would _ever_ play in front of the whole camp. Not now, not ever. In the end, Will asked his sister Kayla, second-in-command, to do the sing-along. I sat down behind all other people. Inevitable, Will sat down next to me. Jesus Christ, I would assume that he seemed to aim at driving me insane by his mere presence. If he knew what I felt for him, of course, which I strongly hoped that he _didn't_.

As the time passed, he scooted closer, until the bare skin of our arms touched. If _anybody_ else would have done that, he would have risked to have my sword pointed at his throat, but… let me put it this way: Even though we would never be together, I enjoyed and hated this at the same time. Hated it, because it was driving me insane, and enjoyed it for obvious reasons, even if he probably had no idea _what_ I read into this.

Kayla stroke up another song, and I could see the smile on Chiron's face. Of course, everybody knew that he had a soft spot for old-fashioned music. In this case, Frank Sinatra: _Something Stupid_. 1967.

 _I know I stand in line until you think you have the time to spend an evening with me._

How much I'd love to spend an evening with Will.

 _And if we'd go some place to dance, I know that there's a chance you won't be leaving with me._

I had learned how to dance at Westover Hall… If I still could?

 _And afterwards we drop into a quiet little place and have a drink or two._

Fun fact: I had never drunk alcohol. Guess I had no time for it, saving the world and all.

 _And then I'll go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like 'I love you'._

How I'd love to say these words to Will.

By now, our faces were like two inches away from each other. And the distance was getting smaller. One inch, half an inch, a few millimeters…

"GIVE THAT BACK, JACKSON!"

We flinched and pulled away. As I spun around, ready to murder whoever had interrupted my almost-kiss with Will, I saw that Jason was chasing Percy, who held a bunch of marshmallows above his head, around the campfire. I clenched my fists. If it weren't for these two world-class-idiots, I would be kissing Will right now. This was one of these moments when I wished Percy would have never made it out of Tartarus. Yes, I was _so_ angry that I wished _that_ on him. At first, I had found his dorkiness cute, but now, it was simply annoying. Annoying the Hades out of me.

I fruitlessly tried to calm down. Then I felt Will's hand on my wrist, and I flinched. I wasn't ready to talk to him now. Knowing my bad luck, I had read to much into this anyway. He had most likely not meant to kiss me. So, without paying him, or Percy, or Jason, or anyone any more attention, I shadow-traveled into my cabin. And when realization slightly came to my mind, torturing me with the thought that I had been _so_ close to having what I would never have, to kissing Will, I buried my face in my pillow and cried.

 **Month IV, Day II**

KNOCK-KNOCK!

I woke up to the sound of someone mishandling the door knocker of the Hades cabin. Another item on my to-do-list: Replace skull-shaped the door knocker. Along with the coffin-like beds and the dripping candles.

I opened the door, realizing too late that my eyes were still red and swollen from crying all night. And, of course, in front of me stood Will. Before I had overcome my shock, he had already invited himself into my cabin and closed the door. Yeah, my bad luck again. As if I'd need to be tortured some more.

When I regained my composure, I closed my mouth and spun around. "What is it, Solace?" I bluntly asked. A hurt expression spread across Will's features. "Since when are do you call me by my surname, _di Angelo_?" he shot back. I sighed. "What is it, _Will_?" Will didn't relax. "Is it about yesterday?" I pried. "If so, why don't you already spit it out instead of coming here and discovering that you don't have the guts to say what you want to say?" I knew that it wasn't fair to take my anger out on him instead of Percy and Jason, but at the prospect of what I expected him to say, I couldn't help but get upset.

"I'm sorry that we got interrupted" came Will's voice.

"See? Wasn't that hard to—wait, what?" His answer left me utterly confused. Will didn't look into my eyes when he repeated his statement.

"I'm sorry that we got interrupted" he whispered, barely audible. "You… are?" I stuttered, overwhelmed with the implications of this line. _He_ was sorry that we didn't get to _kiss each other_? "Yeah" was his only reply. Only then he looked up, and, as cheesy as it sounds, his blue eyes looked right into mine. He took a hesitant step forward, and another one, and he leant in, our faces once again inches away from each other…

"Don't!" I gasped. I didn't see his hurt-surprised expression when I spun around on my heels and rushed out of the door, only to dissolve into the shadows once I left the cabin.

In that moment, seconds away from kissing Will, I had had a terrible feeling, commonly known as 'what-if'. What if he discovers that he doesn't like me that way? What if he breaks my heart? What if he finds he likes someone else more and leaves me broken-hearted? What if, what if, what what what what if…

I materialized somewhere inside the woods. I had no idea where I was, but apparently the weather-control didn't apply for the forest, because it was raining, matching my mood. Within seconds, my clothes were soaked, my hair was wet, and the tears that streamed down my face mixed with the raindrops. And though I knew that I had screwed everything up, maybe it was for the better. Rather yearning for a lost love for the rest of my life than feeling like Elysium for a few weeks and be hurt for the rest of my life, haunted by dreams of what I would have had. I lay down, not caring about the fact that the raindrops hit my face, and stared at the gray sky. Eventually, I fell asleep.

 **Month IV, Day III**

"Are you Nico?" a curious voice asked. I woke up, having a terrible headache, a terribly dry throat, and a terribly empty stomach. A dryad stood nearby and watched me with curious eyes. I sat up. "Who's asking?" I rather croaked than said, feeling sore from sleeping on the ground. The dryad tilted her head. "The name's Rowan. Are you Nico, or are you not?" I nodded, and immediately gave a wince of pain. Holy Hades, my head _hurt_!

Rowan shrugged. "Well, a young man is running through the forest since sunrise, shouting your name. Just in case you are looking for him, too, he's at Zeus' fist at the moment." She pointed in the vague direction of the big rock in the middle of Camp Half-Blood's forest. So Will was searching for me, helpful fool he was. Why would I want to talk to him? I'd either hurt him more than I already had by refusing to talk about my running away, or he'd try to convince me that everything would be alright if I told him about my doubts. Nonetheless, I began walking in the direction Rowan had pointed. Well, more like _tried_ to walk. My knees buckled, and I collapsed.

"Oh my" the wood nymph sighed, and made a few sounds in Dryad language. "My sisters will guide the young man here. You obviously need help." I wanted to shake my head, but I didn't have the power to do so. The growling of my stomach and the pulsating pain in, well, every spot of my body merged into an overwhelming emotion. My vision got blurry, and the last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was a face bordered by mop of blonde hair.

I woke up and felt _warm_. Like somebody had wrapped me into way too many blankets. I tried to shove the blankets away, just to find that there weren't any blankets. Something _living_ lay next to me, or rather, wrapped around me. I lazily opened my eyes, and was wide awake in an instant.

Next to me, in my bed, lay Will Solace. Shirtless. Just as I was. Our bare skins touched, and his arms were wrapped around me.

My sudden movement woke him up, and he yawned, stretching all his limbs.

"What the fuck Solace? What are you doing here?" I yelled. Will's expression changed from tired to hurt and guilty. He mumbled something under his breath. "What was that?" I demanded. "You were suffering hypothermia" he mumbled. "You needed warmth. And you had nightmares. So we needed somebody to hold you and warm you, and I—I figured you would mind me the least" he muttered, blushing at the last words. I felt the flush creep into my cheeks as well. His explanation was totally logical, I would have probably freaked out if I woke up with Percy or Jason in my bed and snuggling up to me, but _holy freaking shit?_ Didn't he realize what this did to me?

Will's expression turned stern, as if he suddenly got remembered that he was supposed to be angry with me. "Why did you run away anyway?" he demanded. "Why for every god's sake did you disappear for _twelve goddamn hours_ , scared me to death, almost _froze and dehydrated_ yourself to death?" He sat up and crossed his arms. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

I averted my gaze. "I was… scared" I murmured, and immediately, the hurt look was back on Will's face. "Scared… of me?" he asked. "Nico, I swear, I would _never, never_ hurt you! I'd rather—" I cut him off. "Not scared of you. Scared of… getting together and losing you. Scared of how strong my feelings are. Scared that we wouldn't work out. Scared that something might go wrong." I felt like a complete idiot, but how could he even _think_ I'd be scared of him?

Will cupped my face with his hands, and though I originally wanted to, I didn't pull away. "Nico, look at me. I can't promise that we work out. I can't promise that everything will be alright. I can't come up with a cheesy line about you being the love of my life. But I can promise that I'll try, if you let me. And I can swear that I love you." I looked into his eyes, our noses and foreheads touching. "Please, Nico, give me, give _us_ a chance." His face showed nothing but sincerity, and for a moment, I let my defenses down and allowed my feelings to forge ahead. Tears filled my eyes, and I shifted my head slightly to close the distance between our lips. At last.


	3. Act III - Resolution

**AN:** I don't know if and/or how people in the US celebrate Saint Nicholas Day, so if they don't, just imagine they'd do and there'd be a feast. Thanks.

 **Disclaimer: I own neither PJO nor HoO, only the OCs and the plot. PJO and HoO belong to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

 **Month IV, Day IV**

"I love you, Nico" Will breathed against my lips. I was still dazed. We had kissed. We _were_ still kissing. I was finally allowed to run my fingers through Will's hair and pull him closer. I had done that a lot since yesterday. We had fallen asleep after crying and kissing for what felt like hours, and the next day, I didn't mind that I woke up next to Will. I smiled at my smiling boyfriend, and my insides filled with warmth at the sound of that word. _Boyfriend. Will Solace. Will is my boyfriend_.

And was there anything better than waking up next to your _boyfriend_ , wrapped in several blankets, and kiss while the first rays of sunlight shine through the window, as if Apollo himself had decided to make this kisses as cliché as possible? Well, I can assure you, there is nothing better. That is, nothing better I had experienced so far.

I remembered the conversation I had had with Will after he woke up. He had admitted that I had first caught his eye after Manhattan, and that he had felt very similar to me during the last few months, doubting that I'd ever like him back.

" _Why didn't you just tell me?"_

" _Nico, I was glad to have you as a friend, I didn't dare push my luck and ask you out. I was totally sure that that'd be the end of our friendship. I mean look at you: Handsome, brave, one of the most powerful demigods alive. You traveled around the world, you fought Kronos and Gaea, you're the twice savior of Olympus. You're a hero. I'm sure half the camp would love to go out with you. And me? I'm a medic. I can't even hold a sword, let alone a bow. My only abilities are healing and making music. I'm a nobody. If we wouldn't have met on Half-Blood Hill, you would have never noticed me."_

" _That's so not true, Will. You're not a nobody. You save people's life—"_

" _Don't give me the 'medics are important'-talk, Nico, my siblings have done that several times. It doesn't change anything._ _I'm useless when it comes to fighting."_

And _he_ lectured me about low self-esteem. He was one to talk. And though the thought that I might have really not noticed him if we hadn't met during the battle gnawed on me, I did my best to ignore it. I _had_ noticed him, and he had noticed me. We had suffered for four months, oblivious of each other's feelings, but now we were together. That's that. It wouldn't do any good if I kept questioning our relationship. Heck, was it even a relationship, after, like, nine hours of dating? It was, I decided, as our lips met once more.

We kept making out until the rest of our friends barged into the cabin. All of them froze, and though my face was most likely beet red and my heart was in my mouth, I kept kissing Will. Everybody else made out in public, so why shouldn't we? Will was overwhelmed at first, but then he kept kissing back. Piper burst into laughter, Jason frowned at Will, Percy rambled something about my type (was I _ever_ going to hear the end of this?), and Annabeth whacked him upside the head to shut him up. That was, by the way, not how I had imagined my coming-out, but given that none of them freaked out, I had to admit that Jason had been right about the whole 'nobody's going to judge you'-matter. I should tell him that some time.

Later that day, while I was training in the arena, I saw a horde of giggling girls watching me from afar. After what looked like a heated discussion, one of them approached me and looked at me shyly. _Laura,_ I remembered, a daughter of Hebe. She had come to Camp Half-Blood after Percy had made the gods promise to claim all their children.

"Uh, hi, Nico. I, um, wondered if you have plans for the feast on Saint Nicholas Day?" she asked hopefully. Oh, right, there'd be a feast. I hated to disappoint her, but I sent her the most friendly smile I could. "Sorry, but I already have plans. I'm going there with my _boyfriend_.", emphasis on the last word. After these words, her mouth formed a perfect 'O', and she ran towards her friends to let the world know that Nico di Angelo had a boyfriend. So that was my public coming-out, huh? The news would spread within hours, within _seconds_ if the Aphrodite cabin was involved. Hopefully, Will would be okay with going to the feast with me.

Turned out, he was totally okay with that. I found out that I could still dance. And Will could, too.


End file.
